December 4, 2018 10:17am ESTDecember 4, 2018 7:13am ESTCollege Sports, Ohio State football, ncaa-footballThe Big Ten hasn't made the Playoff in two years. Its champion hasn't made it in three. The conference needs to make changes if it wants back in.Dwayne Haskins (left), Urban Meyer(Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was asked the obvious question in the aftermath of the Buckeyes' 45-24 victory against Northwestern in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday.

Did the Buckeyes, who finished 12-1 and won a conference championship, have a case for the College Football Playoff?

"I don't know," Meyer said. "I don't really want to get into that tonight. I think those people, I think they're in Dallas, wherever they are, and it's a tough situation they're in. There's a lot of great football teams out there, and we're one of those great football teams. I think there should be a lot of merit in winning your conference, which we did."

The Playoff committee didn't see it that way. No. 4 Oklahoma took the No. 4 spot, and Ohio State became the first 12-1 Power 5 conference champion to miss the Playoff.

That's the tough situation the Big Ten is in right now. For the third consecutive season, the Big Ten champion did not make the College Football Playoff. Ohio State finished behind two-loss Georgia in the final Playoff rankings, and that’s just another layer of the problem.

Meyer could have politicked harder — Big Ten fans remember when he did that with Florida in 2006 to prevent a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan in the BCS championship game — but if he had, it would have to be a different pressure point. The conference championship argument does not hunt.

That much is clear after three straight seasons in which the Playoff committee did not take that conference championship into account. The Buckeyes made the Playoff as a one-loss team that didn't play in the Big Ten championship in 2016. Penn State won the Big Ten championship that year.

Save the strength-of-conference-argument, too. A 7-1 bowl record in 2017 didn’t matter. Ohio State's 62-39 victory against Michigan was not enough. The committee looked harder at Ohio State's loss than it did the wins around it. Being the strongest conference in the FBS — which the Big Ten might be — does not matter as much as it should.

With that in mind, the Big Ten should strongly consider a few adjustments or political strategies. Here are three to consider.

Eliminate divisions

The Buckeyes didn't get the same jolt from beating Northwestern on Saturday they received after beating Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten championship game in 2014.

Truth is, Ohio State did not deserve that bump. Northwestern had four losses. The score did not matter. It would not have jumped the Sooners. It did not jump Georgia. That is because the Big Ten championship did not have the same cachet as the Big 12 matchup with Oklahoma-Texas or the SEC matchup with Georgia-Alabama.

The Big 12 is on to something with its conference championship format, which has no divisions and takes the top two teams in the standings. It's a rematch, but Oklahoma has used that to make the Playoff each of the last two years.

Divisional imbalance has been a topic at Big Ten Media Days for the last few years, and the East is 5-0 against the West in the Big Ten championship game. Ohio State didn't get a bump from beating an undefeated Wisconsin team last year. What would have made the difference this year?

Rethink nine conference games

The Big Ten does not schedule FCS opponents. The conference is the only 14-team league that plays nine conference games. It's an honorable creed to live by and another reason the Big Ten has improved its strength of schedule.

But it hasn't landed the team in the Playoff. That extra crossover game has bitten Ohio State in 2017 (Iowa) and 2018 (Purdue). Michigan also was knocked out of contention due, in part, to a loss at Iowa in 2016. Meanwhile, the SEC and ACC — the last two Power 5 conferences to play eight conference games — have been represented in the Playoff each of the last five seasons.

Again, Georgia finished one spot ahead of Ohio State in the rankings despite two losses. That's not right.

In effect, the Big Ten has done everything to strengthen its schedule and reputation. This conference won't game the system, but it sits back and watches others do it. Until every Power 5 conference has nine conference games, the Big Ten is at an inherent disadvantage.

Call out Notre Dame

Have at it, Jim Delany.

Notre Dame essentially took the Big Ten's spot. The Irish beat Michigan and Northwestern in the regular season and finally broke through as a Playoff team. To be clear, Notre Dame mostly operates on a have-to-win-out-basis to get in the Playoff, and this year's team deserves it.

That doesn't mean the Big Ten can poke at the Irish a little bit. Notre Dame does not play in a conference and takes advantage of a half-in, five-game agreement with the ACC to play in a de facto ACC championship game with Clemson.

Notre Dame got in without a conference championship. The only other teams to do that were Ohio State (2016) and Alabama (2017).

Those three initiatives would help, but it wouldn't seal the deal. If the Big Ten's most successful program can't break through in the last two seasons, then who can?

That's the question Delany and Big Ten might want to politick more about now, so it doesn't happen again next year.